UFC officials recently announced the pairing, which takes place
May 31 at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The show’s
main card airs live on Fox Sports 1, headlined by a heavyweight
clash between former champion Junior dos
Santos and Stipe
Miocic.

A Mundials and ADCC champion, Maia has submitted half of his 18
victims since making his MMA debut in 2001. The jiu-jitsu ace
dropped to welterweight in 2012, rattling off a trio of wins before
coming up short against Jake Shields
and Rory
MacDonald in his last two outings.

Yakovlev rides a three-fight winning streak into his UFC debut. The
29-year-old Russian owns 26 pro fights to his credit and last
competed on Nov. 8, when he took a unanimous decision from UFC
veteran Paul Daley
under the Moscow-based Legend banner.